Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stands at the dais as he speaks to the Senate during the second day of the 89th regular session at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Jan. 15, 2025. (Juan Figueroa/Dallas Morning News/TNS)

AUSTIN — Texas public school leaders could impose a mandatory period to pray and read religious texts under a bill passed by the Texas Senate on Tuesday.

The GOP-backed proposal would expand religious liberties in public schools, Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, said during the bill’s debate. It builds on growing momentum to weave more Christianity into classrooms.

“In Texas, our schools are not God-free zones,” Middleton said. “Senate Bill 11 is about providing a space for free expression of our religion in public schools and open-enrollment charter schools. The bill does not make participation of prayer or reading of religious texts compulsory.”

Later on Tuesday, state senators began debate on a bill that would require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments in public schools.

In 2023, lawmakers approved allowing chaplains in schools. Then last year, the State Board of Education narrowly approved Bible-infused lessons that public campuses could use.

Having a religious period during school would not replace or supplant class time, Middleton said during Tuesday’s debate. “It is simply meant to allow a time for students and faculty to freely express their religion,” he said.

The bill would require parents to sign a consent form allowing their children to participate and waiving their right to sue the district, including under a claim of the First Amendment’s establishment clause separating church and state.

The Senate passed SB 11 in a 23-7 vote after a lengthy debate with skeptical Democrats opposing the measure and stressing that students already have the freedom to pray before or after school, at recess and during lunch.

Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, suggested the bill sought to force an addition to the so-called three Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic — religion — instead of letting families lead that conversation at home.

Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, expressed concern that those students who aren’t Christians could be bullied or coerced into participating.